Saturday, January 21, 2012

Continuing its 2012 indoor season on Saturday afternoon, the Valparaiso women's track and field team closed out action at the Wisconsin Invitational with a fifth-place finish.

The Crusaders finished the meet with 39 points for their fifth-place finish. The host Badgers took the team title with 157.5 points.

Four different Crusader athletes earned top-ten finishes on the infield Saturday. Sophomore Kelley Freeman (Valparaiso, Ind./Chesterton) placed sixth in the pole vault, clearing 10'4”.

A pair of freshmen registered top-tens in the long jump as well, as Marissa Crafton (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton) and Alycia Corral (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) finished eighth and ninth, respectively, with marks of 16'7” and 16'5”. Sophomore Sarah Drozdowski (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) improved upon her third-best mark in Crusader history in the shot put, posting a throw of 42'8 3/4” for a ninth-place finish.

Valpo's efforts on the track were led by sophomore Claire Johnson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie), who ran to a fifth-place finish in the 800m run, crossing the line in 2:22.62. Freshman Jessica Richardson (Columbus, Ind./North) placed seventh in the seeded section of the 3,000m run with a time of 10:54.67, while fellow rookie Kelli Wosick (Mount Prospect, Ill./Saint Viator) covered the 600m run in 1:44.96, good for tenth place.

Valparaiso returns to action next Saturday, January 28 at the IPFW Quadrangular meet. The Crusaders will be taking on Oakland and Horizon League foe Detroit in addition to the host Mastodons.